1 00:00:00,258 --> 00:00:07,019 Paul is not calling for mere mechanical conformity. 2 00:00:07,019 --> 00:00:09,109 You know, somebody can come in the church 3 00:00:09,109 --> 00:00:11,917 and they can see how we act. 4 00:00:11,917 --> 00:00:15,235 They can see how we talk. 5 00:00:15,235 --> 00:00:17,248 They can listen to people 6 00:00:17,248 --> 00:00:20,168 who have studied Scripture. 7 00:00:20,168 --> 00:00:26,798 A parrot can imitate what we say. 8 00:00:26,798 --> 00:00:30,018 I've more than once felt 9 00:00:30,018 --> 00:00:33,868 people say the right things, 10 00:00:33,868 --> 00:00:36,848 but something's wrong with them. 11 00:00:36,848 --> 00:00:39,840 And it comes back to this - the spirit of the mind. 12 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:43,625 Paul is not looking for mere external 13 00:00:43,625 --> 00:00:46,319 mechanical conformity. 14 00:00:46,319 --> 00:00:49,948 He's asking us to put into practice 15 00:00:49,948 --> 00:00:52,388 an intelligent change. 16 00:00:52,388 --> 00:00:53,919 You see what's happening? 17 00:00:53,919 --> 00:00:56,231 When we get to putting on the new man, 18 00:00:56,231 --> 00:00:58,419 clothing ourselves with the new man - 19 00:00:58,419 --> 00:01:01,908 it's not just external conformity to GCC 20 00:01:01,908 --> 00:01:03,849 or external conformity 21 00:01:03,849 --> 00:01:07,480 to what we think Christianity looks like. 22 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:09,239 It's got to happen at a deeper level. 23 00:01:09,239 --> 00:01:11,789 This is an intelligent conformity. 24 00:01:11,789 --> 00:01:13,667 Something is happening in the brain 25 00:01:13,667 --> 00:01:15,729 where we think different. 26 00:01:15,729 --> 00:01:18,688 Our thinking is superior to what it was before. 27 00:01:18,688 --> 00:01:23,859 There is actually an intelligent change taking place. 28 00:01:23,859 --> 00:01:25,399 Put on the new man. 29 00:01:25,399 --> 00:01:28,169 Yes, but the Christian must not do anything 30 00:01:28,169 --> 00:01:30,049 without knowing why he's doing it. 31 00:01:30,049 --> 00:01:31,939 Intelligence is essential. 32 00:01:31,939 --> 00:01:33,410 Knowledge is essential. 33 00:01:33,410 --> 00:01:36,277 The spirit of the mind 34 00:01:36,277 --> 00:01:39,588 operated on by the Spirit of God is essential. 35 00:01:39,588 --> 00:01:42,499 If you do not know why you are living the Christian life, 36 00:01:42,499 --> 00:01:45,860 you're not equipped to put on the new man as you ought. 37 00:01:45,860 --> 00:01:47,480 This comes out everywhere. 38 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:50,439 One of my favorite places is there in Romans 6. 39 00:01:50,439 --> 00:01:51,809 What does Paul say? 40 00:01:51,809 --> 00:01:55,495 Paul says, "You must count yourself 41 00:01:55,495 --> 00:01:58,028 (reckon yourselves) to be dead to sin." 42 00:01:58,028 --> 00:01:59,597 Then he goes to on to say: 43 00:01:59,597 --> 00:02:02,780 Don't let sin reign in your mortal bodies. 44 00:02:02,780 --> 00:02:04,818 But before he says don't let sin reign, 45 00:02:04,818 --> 00:02:06,779 he says you've got to consider yourselves 46 00:02:06,779 --> 00:02:08,779 to be dead to sin and alive to God. 47 00:02:08,779 --> 00:02:10,408 You've got to think the right way. 48 00:02:10,408 --> 00:02:12,347 And if you don't think the right way, 49 00:02:12,347 --> 00:02:13,777 you don't fight the right way. 50 00:02:13,777 --> 00:02:15,228 And it all becomes external 51 00:02:15,228 --> 00:02:17,049 (incomplete thought). 52 00:02:17,049 --> 00:02:18,709 Anybody can come in here say 53 00:02:18,709 --> 00:02:21,097 I see the way they homeschool. I'm going to homeschool that way. 54 00:02:21,097 --> 00:02:23,008 I see the way they dress. I'm going to dress that way. 55 00:02:23,008 --> 00:02:25,280 I hear the way they talk. I'm going to talk that way. 56 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:27,489 And we get people like that that come in here 57 00:02:27,489 --> 00:02:28,647 and they're doing that. 58 00:02:28,647 --> 00:02:30,527 But the spirit of the mind. 59 00:02:30,527 --> 00:02:32,357 You get talking to them very closely, 60 00:02:32,357 --> 00:02:33,829 you begin watching their life, 61 00:02:33,829 --> 00:02:35,797 and it seems like something's wrong. 62 00:02:35,797 --> 00:02:39,048 They're seeking to conform, but it seems like it's external. 63 00:02:39,048 --> 00:02:40,999 It seems like something's not right here. 64 00:02:40,999 --> 00:02:43,829 And ultimately, something isn't right there. 65 00:02:43,829 --> 00:02:47,199 This sermon excerpt was taken from the full sermon: 66 00:02:47,199 --> 00:02:49,618 "Be Renewed in the Spirit of Your Mind" 67 00:02:49,618 --> 00:02:51,120 by Tim Conway.